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WHO: COVID origins unclear but lab leak theory needs study

Published:Thursday | June 9, 2022 | 3:26 PM
Marion Koopmans (right) and Peter Ben Embarek (centre) of the World Health Organization team say farewell to their Chinese counterpart Liang Wannian (left) after a WHO-China Joint Study Press Conference at the end of the WHO mission in Wuhan, China on February 9, 2021. Experts drafted by the World Health Organization to help investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic say further research is needed to determine how COVID-19 first began. They say they need a more detailed analysis of the possibility it was a laboratory accident. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

GENEVA (AP) — More than two years after coronavirus emerged in China and after at least 6.3 million deaths have been counted worldwide from the pandemic, the World Health Organization is recommending in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is required into whether a lab accident may be to blame.

That stance marks a sharp reversal of the UN health agency's initial assessment of the pandemic's origins, and comes after many critics accused WHO of being too quick to dismiss or underplay a lab-leak theory that put Chinese officials on the defensive.

WHO concluded last year that it was “extremely unlikely” COVID-19 might have spilled into humans in the city of Wuhan from a lab.

Many scientists suspect the coronavirus jumped into people from bats, possibly via another animal.

Yet in a report released Thursday, WHO's expert group said “key pieces of data” to explain how the pandemic began were still missing.

The scientists said the group would “remain open to any and all scientific evidence that becomes available in the future to allow for comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses.”

Identifying a disease's source in animals typically takes years. It took more than a decade for scientists to pinpoint the species of bats that were the natural reservoir for SARS, a relative of COVID-19.

WHO's expert group also noted that since lab accidents in the past have triggered some outbreaks, the highly politicised theory could not be discounted.

The report could revive accusations that WHO initially was too accepting of Chinese government explanations early in the outbreak, which ultimately killed millions of people, sickened millions more, forced dozens of countries into lockdown and upended the world economy.

Investigations by The Associated Press found that some top WHO insiders were frustrated by China during the initial outbreak even as WHO heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

They were also upset over how China sought to clamp down on research into the origins of COVID-19.

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